BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 40,347 Shares of Welltower Inc. $WELL

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its holdings in Welltower Inc. by 3.3%, selling 40,347 shares, and now owns approximately 0.18% of the company, valued at $181.17 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in Welltower, with Cbre Investment Management showing a significant increase of 55.6% in shares owned during the first quarter.
• Welltower recently announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.67 to $0.74 per share, reflecting a 1.8% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 167.23%.

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,182,474 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 40,347 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.18% of Welltower worth $181,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 258,052 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $39,536,000 after purchasing an additional 9,678 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in Welltower by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. now owns 27,893 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 61.4% during the 1st quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 6,756 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 2,571 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 55.6% during the 1st quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 3,013,247 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $461,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,503 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $20,147,000 after purchasing an additional 10,423 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WELL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Welltower from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $175.00.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of Welltower stock traded up $0.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $168.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,689,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,354,539. The firm has a market cap of $112.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.93 and a 12 month high of $171.09. The business's 50-day moving average is $160.73 and its 200 day moving average is $153.23. The company has a current ratio of 4.19, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.49 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 3.38%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.060-5.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. Welltower's payout ratio is currently 167.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Andrew Gundlach bought 20,000 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $151.46 per share, with a total value of $3,029,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,029,200. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc NYSE: WELL, a real estate investment trust ("REIT") and S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. Welltower invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.